85-711: C7 Sport was a pay-TV service in Australia, owned and run by Seven Network . The service was carried on the Austar and Optus Vision pay-TV networks between 1995 and 2002. Seven unsuccessfully pursued court action against competitors, seeking damages of $ 480 million, but lost the case and was described by the judge as exhibiting "more than a hint of hypocrisy" in regard to the issue of price-ramping of broadcast rights. When Optus Vision launched in 1995, it carried two sports channels: Sports Australia , and Sports AFL (which showed Australian Football League games.) These channels were run by
170-545: A 14.9% share of the company later in the same year. The 1980s saw the introduction of stereo sound, as well as a number of successful shows, most notably A Country Practice in 1981, and Sons and Daughters , which began in 1982. Wheel of Fortune began its 25-year run in July 1981, produced from ADS -7's studios in Adelaide . The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were shown live on
255-661: A company called Sports Vision, in which Seven Network was a partner. A third channel, Sports Australia 2, was added during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics , and later used to show additional live programming. The programming line-up on the Sports Australia service rivalled Fox Sports , with the AFL, NRL premiership, the Australian National Soccer League , the FA Premier League , and Sheffield Shield cricket. At
340-639: A consumer is likely to be acceptable quality. If goods or services fail to reach a basic level of quality (considering the price of the goods/services) – that is they are defective, break, or do not do what they should do – then the ACL has been breached. The Review of the Competition Provisions of the Trade Practices Act ( Dawson Report ) was released in January 2003 and received 212 submissions. The scope of
425-564: A digital channel owned by the Prime Media Group , in December 2011 on channel 64 in Prime7 and regional areas and channel 74 in other areas. In September 2011, Seven broadcast a report featuring journalist Tim Noonan and writer and adventurer Paul Raffaele visiting Brazil's Suruwaha tribe and describing them as child murderers, "Stone Age" relics, and "one of the worst human rights violators in
510-607: A feature of the Australian telecommunications market is that it is neither feasible nor efficient to have multiple networks, for example, of fibre-optic cables or of copper cables. For this reason, sections XIB and XIC of the Act exist to ensure that competitors (downstream users) have access to Telstra's networks. Part XIB of the Act allows the ACCC to issue a Competition Notice to a carrier (telecommunications corporation) if it has reason to believe
595-552: A high definition simulcast on channel 70 on 10 May 2016. Initially, the Melbourne and Adelaide markets received 7HD as a HD simulcast of Seven's primary channel, while the Sydney, Brisbane and Perth markets received 7HD as a HD simulcast of 7mate; this was to allow Australian Football League (AFL) matches to be broadcast in HD in those markets. Sydney, Brisbane and Perth temporarily received 7HD as
680-485: A new look for programme advisory ratings, programme listings and programme advertisements and promos. As of 10 December 2013, Seven no longer broadcasts on analogue TV and is now only available through digital TV or digital set-top box. On 26 June 2015, Racing.com began broadcasting on channel 78 as a joint venture between Seven West Media and Racing Victoria following a blackout of Victorian horse racing by Sky Racing . Initially broadcasting an interim live feed from
765-415: A number of timeslot changes, was moved in 1998 to Wednesdays. This was to make room for a new series, medical drama All Saints . Both dramas rated quite highly, and along with new lifestyle shows Better Homes and Gardens and The Great Outdoors , resulted in a stronger ratings position for the network. In 1995, Sunshine Television , a Seven Network affiliate in regional Queensland, was purchased by
850-401: A public register of authorisations and notifications. In 2006 the Act was amended to include a new Division 3 to Part VIIA providing a process for formal clearance and authorisation of mergers. Part VIIA enables the ACCC to examine the prices of selected goods and services in the Australian economy. The ACCC's functions under this part are: Australia is a free market economy; consequently,
935-585: A purpose-built high-definition television production facility at the Australian Technology Park in Eveleigh . The present Seven Network began as a group of independent stations in Sydney , Melbourne , Brisbane , Adelaide and Perth . HSV-7 Melbourne, licensed to The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd (owners of two local papers at the time, The Herald and The Sun ), was launched on 4 November 1956,
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#17328592617941020-587: A share in the network, and continued to produce news and current affairs programming for it. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, a state-of-the-art high definition national broadcast facility was constructed in Docklands, Melbourne , replacing the previous facility in Epping, Sydney . This new facility would also house HSV-7 's Melbourne offices and studios. The year 2000 saw former Nine executive David Leckie appointed as head of television operations, re-launching
1105-411: A simulcast of the primary channel for the duration of the 2016 Summer Olympics before the change was made permanent during and after the 2017 Australian Open tennis. Up until 16 January 2020, breakaway programming was used to show further AFL matches and Australian cricket matches in HD. In June 2017, following the acquisition of Yahoo! by Verizon Communications , Seven announced plans to launch
1190-511: A subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers , publisher of The West Australian , began broadcasting almost two years later, on 16 October 1959, as the city's first television station. BTQ-7 Brisbane followed on 1 November 1959, signing on as Brisbane's second television station. ADS-7 Adelaide was launched on 24 October 1959 as the final capital city VHF7 station. The station later swapped frequencies with SAS-10 on 27 December 1987 as ADS-10 and SAS-7 . HSV-7 began its relationship with
1275-465: A warehouse in Sydney. The exact location is North Head Sanctuary, also known as The Barracks. On the night Big Brother premiered, Seven also changed their on air theme. On 19 June 2020, it was announced that The Daily Edition had been cancelled by the Seven Network after 7 years with hosts Sally Obermeder and Ryan Phelan leaving the network. The final episode aired on 26 June 2020. In July 2020,
1360-752: A wholly owned standalone service to replace PLUS7 . In September 2017, Seven announced the new service would be known as 7plus and would launch in November 2017. As of September 2017, Seven's live streaming service, now named 7Live , is no longer accessible from within the PLUS7 and the Yahoo7 portal. Seven announced 7food network , a new digital channel, which launched on Channel 74 on 1 December 2018. The announcement with Discovery network follows SBS Food Network losing its deal with Discovery-owned Scripps Network . The channel ceased broadcast on 28 December 2019, just over
1445-458: A year since it launched, though Seven continues to utilise the Food Network branding elsewhere In June 2020, Big Brother Australia made a return on the Seven Network with a rebooted program. Hosted by Sonia Kruger , the series was pre-recorded and not live as in previous series, with the new version of Big Brother described like a "Survivor in a warehouse", with producers opting to film at
1530-481: Is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network . It is owned by Seven West Media Limited , and is one of the five main free-to-air television networks in Australia. The network's headquarters are located in Sydney . As of 2014, it is the second-largest network in the country in terms of population reach. The Seven Network shows various nonfiction shows—such as news broadcasts ( Seven News ) and sports programming—as well as fiction shows. In 2011,
1615-636: Is applied as state law through the Fair Trading Acts in each Australian State and Territory, to extend the application of the ACL to individuals. The Act exempts the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments from some provisions of the Act. The immunity from the Act does not generally derive to third parties who deal with the government: see Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Baxter Healthcare . The article: 'Consumer Protection Law in Australia' (LexisNexis 2011) by Ven. Alex Bruce ('Tenpa')
1700-461: Is based on the proposition that low consumer power or lack of information is a market failure which needs to be addressed by interference in the market. These parts deal with: Misleading or deceptive conduct (s 18 of the ACL, formerly s 52 of the TPA) is one of the most important consumer parts of the act. It allows both individuals and the ACCC to take action against corporations who engage in conduct that
1785-537: Is limited by section 51 of the Australian Constitution , which sets out the division of powers between the federal and state parliaments. As a result, most of the CCA is drafted to apply only to corporations, thus relying on Section 51(xx) . Some parts of the CCA have a broader operation, relying for instance on the telecommunications power ( Section 51(v) ) or the territories power. The Australian Consumer Law (ACL)
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#17328592617941870-548: Is misleading or deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive. Misleading or deceptive conduct carried out by companies can also be prosecuted by the state (under Chapter 4 of the ACL). The inclusion of unconscionable conduct in the Australian Consumer Law is a codification and extension of the equitable principle of ' unconscionability ' which was later clarified as a cause-of-action. The High Court of Australia held that an act
1955-437: Is more than a hint of hypocrisy in certain of Seven's contentions." He was unable to accept Seven's chairman Kerry Stokes as a reliable witness. The judge also commented on the hefty financial cost of the case, remarking that "in my view, the expenditure of $ 200 million and counting on a single piece of litigation is not only extraordinarily wasteful, but borders on the scandalous". The case has continually been labelled by both
2040-605: The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) and also gives some rights for private action. Schedule 2 of the CCA sets out the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). The Federal Court of Australia has the jurisdiction to determine private and public complaints made in regard to contraventions of the Act. The Competition and Consumer Act (CCA) is an act of the Parliament of Australia and so its application
2125-483: The Australian Television Network in 1963. The new grouping was soon joined by other capital-city channel 7 stations, ADS-7 Adelaide and BTQ-7 Brisbane. The new network began to produce and screen higher-budget programs to attract viewers, most notably Homicide , a series which would continue for another 12 years to become the nation's longest running drama series. However, it was not until 1970, after
2210-683: The Fox Footy Channel . With no carrier, the channel was officially closed on 7 May. Later that year, Seven launched what is considered to be the largest-ever media lawsuit in Australia, naming 22 defendants including Nine, Ten, Optus, Austar, the AFL, the NRL, Fox Sports, PBL and Telstra. Seven's principal claims, relying on anti-competitive provisions in Part IV of the Trade Practices Act , were that: Seven claimed damages of A$ 480 million (amended from
2295-465: The Nine Network 's A Current Affair , was launched in 1992 but was later replaced by the more successful Today Tonight . The network was listed on the stock exchange in 1993, soon after the entry of subscription television provider Australis . One of Seven's most popular series, A Country Practice , ended in 1993 after 1058 episodes. 1993 saw the introduction of Blue Heelers , which after
2380-521: The Seven Media Group and Foxtel officially signed an agreement allowing Seven's digital signal to be transmitted via Foxtel 's cable and satellite services. Seven became available on Foxtel in early 2009. On 25 September 2009, Seven announced its new digital channel, 7two , which officially launched on 1 November 2009. On 18 January 2010, Seven launched the online catch-up TV website called PLUS7 . On 25 September 2010, in conjunction with
2465-402: The Seven Media Group announcing their intention to start a high definition multichannel, that was initially expected to launch in December 2007. However, 7HD became the first free-to-air commercial television channel introduced to metropolitan areas since 1988, when it launched prior on 15 October 2007, with 25th Hour being the first programme broadcast at 10:30 pm. On 14 February 2008,
2550-608: The Super League war in 1997, C7 no longer had exclusive rights to NRL games, having to share them with Fox, and had totally lost the rights to the FA Premier League. C7 began negotiations with Foxtel in order to make the channels available to a wider audience, but Foxtel refused to carry them. Foxtel claimed that C7 was an inferior service, for which Seven wanted an exorbitant price. C7 won two Federal Court actions backing their position, but Foxtel claims it acted in accordance with
2635-462: The 2002 season, saw Nine and Ten carry games on free-to-air, and a new service, Fox Footy Channel , launched on Foxtel. C7 continued to provide its service to Optus and Austar, but its programming lineup near the end of its run was extremely weak. C7 was reduced to showing XFL games (on several weeks' delay) and live woodchopping in prime time. Optus dropped the channel in late March, replacing it with Fox Sports . Soon after Austar replaced it with
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2720-457: The 2010 AFL Grand Final, Seven launched its second multi-digital channel 7mate . In January 2011, the big red 7 logos were expanded to GWN7 and Prime7 's rebranding respectively. The news bulletins were renamed as GWN7 News and Prime7 News . GWN and Prime relaunched on 16 January 2011 at 6:00 pm, digital channels are branded as 7two and 7mate . Seven announced its intention to expand into digital datacasting known as 4ME ,
2805-808: The ACCC. The restrictive trade practices, or antitrust , provisions in the CCA are aimed at deterring practices by firms which are anti-competitive in that they restrict free competition. This part of the act is enforced by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC). The ACCC can litigate in the Federal Court of Australia, and seek pecuniary penalties of up to $ 10 million from corporations and $ 500,000 from individuals. Private actions for compensation may also be available. These provisions prohibit: A priority of ACCC enforcement action in recent years has been cartels. The ACCC has in place an immunity policy, which grants immunity from prosecution to
2890-468: The ACL, formerly Division 1AAA of Part IV of the TPA), and certain misrepresentations (e.g. a misrepresentation as to price). The Australian Consumer Law implies into contracts with consumers certain guarantees (these were formerly known as warranties). Similar conditions are implied by the State Sale of Goods Acts, but these acts have slightly different jurisdictional limits (e.g. 'consumer' and 'goods') and
2975-515: The AFL's ingratitude. The judgment was handed down on 27 July 2007 and telecast live by the ABC , Sky News (owned in part by the Seven Media Group and PBL), Yahoo7 , the Sydney Morning Herald website and ABC Online. C7 lost the case conclusively on most points with Justice Sackville declaring that, based upon the anti-competitive provisions of the Trade Practices Act upon which Seven relied,
3060-599: The Act does not establish the ACCC as a price-fixing body. An example of the use of this section is that, under a direction from the Minister, the ACCC monitors the price of petrol. However, the ACCC cannot set the price of petrol, which has led to complaints that the ACCC is a "toothless watchdog". Part IX allows the Australian Competition Tribunal, established in Part III of the Act, to review certain decisions of
3145-442: The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. Part X provides immunities for liner shipping from the competition provisions of the Act contained in Part IV. Upon registration of agreements with the registrar of liner shipping, shipping operators may discuss and fix prices, pool revenues and losses, coordinate schedules and engage in other conduct that would otherwise breach Part IV provisions. The Act also regulates aspects of
3230-601: The Australian Football League, the National Rugby League, Channel Ten and pay-TV group Austar. In December 2009, Seven lost an appeal against the court's decision. "The appeal court said the Seven Network had failed to establish that there was any 'anti-competitive purpose' in the business dealings of the respondents in the retail TV market". Seven Network The Seven Network (stylised 7Network , commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven )
3315-457: The Competition and Consumer Act, which does not exist in similar legislation overseas, is that the ACCC may grant exemptions. The ACCC may grant immunity based on assessment of the public benefits and anti-competitive detriments of the conduct, through the 'notification' or 'authorisation' process. Such exemptions do not apply to resale price maintenance or misuse of market power. The ACCC maintains
3400-590: The Court's rulings. Seven won the right to put its programming on Foxtel's analog cable system, including its set-top boxes. C7 still had the AFL and, crucially, had the rights to the 2000 Sydney Olympics . Two more channels ("C7 Olympic" and "C7 Games") were set up, which would carry non-stop Olympic programming during the Games; the channels being made available to Austar and Optus customers at additional cost. Foxtel and C7 negotiated access to Games content for Foxtel viewers. C7
3485-491: The Federal Court upheld the ruling. In October 2012, Seven began cost cutting shedding a number of behind the scenes technical positions and reducing their SNG transponder link capacity on Optus D1 from three (at 12.661,12.671&12.681 GHz) to two (at 12.644&12.653 GHz) which are used by ATN Sydney for Sunrise and national news location uplinks as well as for other local station location uplinks. In November 2012, Seven changed its on-air theme. This included
C7 Sport - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-498: The Law. Section 21 bans unconscionability in consumer transactions. Section 22 gives factors that indicate unconscionability. This clarifies the application of unconscionability and circumstances where a consumer is at a "special disability". The Australian Consumer Law also prohibits a range of other unfair practices including bait advertising (advertising a product that is not reasonably available), pyramid schemes (Division 3 of Part 3-1 of
3655-561: The Prime branding after 33 years in favour of Seven Network's branding, and would see all news bulletins carry the Seven News brand. Prior to this, Prime7 (and sister GWN7 in regional and remote Western Australia) was the only network not to fully use its metro affiliate branding despite carrying Seven branded promos, since WIN Television (except for WIN News) and Southern Cross Austereo use full Nine and Ten network branding on their stations. It
3740-632: The Prime7 and GWN7 logos transition into the national Seven branding. Seven announced in October 2022 it would launch a new free-to-air channel, 7Bravo on 15 January 2023, on LCN 75 in metropolitan areas and LCN 65 in regional areas. As a result ishop TV moved from LCN 65 to LCN 67 in the former Prime7 areas. 7Bravo shows reality shows and true crime . The launch is a partnership between Seven Network and NBCUniversal International Networks & Direct-to-Consumer. On 30 November 2022, various channel changes on
3825-492: The Racing.com website, the channel was officially launched on 29 August 2015. In January 2016, Seven changed its on-air theme. This included a new look for program listings, program advertisements and promos. On 7 February 2016, during the ad-break of Molly , after months of speculation, Seven officially announced their new channel as 7flix on channel 76. 7flix was launched at 6 am on 28 February 2016. 7HD returned as
3910-792: The Seven Network happened to accommodate for the new 7Bravo channel, including a 7mate SD (Channel 73) switch-off. On the same day, 7Bravo on channel 75 appeared on the Seven multiplex, and ishop TV moving to channel 67 placeholder in Seven regional areas. In June 2023, 7NEWS moved their operations from Martin Place to their new purpose-built studios in Eveleigh . In July 2023, Sunrise hosted its first broadcast at its new studios. The first edition went to air live at 5.30am on 24 July 2023, with hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington , newsreader Edwina Bartholomew and sports presenter Mark Beretta , followed by The Morning Show 's Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies . For
3995-504: The Seven Network unveiled new logos, for its multichannels, beginning with 7mate then 7two and 7flix respectively. The change in logos also included their on demand platform 7plus now stylised as ″ 7+ ″ as part of a major branding overhaul of its multi channel stations. In March 2021, it was announced that the Seven Network would move out of Martin Place to Eveleigh by the end of 2022 after almost two decades. On 1 November 2021, Seven West Media announced that it would acquire all
4080-471: The TPA), supply by description or sample (s 56, s 57) and that the goods are of acceptable quality (s 54 of the ACL, formerly s 66 of the TPA, which used the term "merchantable quality"). As a caveat, where the consumer guarantees are not that of title, undisturbed possession or undisclosed securities, they only apply if the goods or services in question are supplied in trade or commerce. The most important of these to
4165-497: The Telecommunications market. In Australia the previously government-owned Telstra , now privatised, has traditionally dominated the telecommunications sector. Telstra owns the copper network infrastructure. The market was partially deregulated in 1992 with the introduction of Optus as a competitor. In 1997 deregulation continued when new entities were permitted to enter the market (see Communications in Australia ). However,
4250-652: The Victorian Football League (now the Australian Football League ) in April 1957, when the station broadcast the first live Australian rules football match. Throughout this time, the stations operated independently of each other, with schedules made up of various simple, and relatively inexpensive, programs, such as Pick a Box and spinoffs of popular radio shows. In the early 1960s, coaxial cable links, formed initially between Sydney and Melbourne, allowed
4335-429: The act is to encourage competition in upstream or downstream markets. This part of the Act allows services to be 'declared' and for parties to negotiate terms and conditions of access. The National Competition Council and the ACCC are both involved in registering agreement and assessing what is fair (to owners, to public, to users). As an alternative to declaring a service, it may be subject to undertakings registered with
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#17328592617944420-437: The case could not succeed. In a key point, he explained that "the reason is that even if each of the consortium respondents had the objective attributed to it by Seven—that of killing C7—achieving that objective could not have substantially lessened competition in the retail television market." Justice Sackville labelled Seven as "far from a helpless and innocent victim", being "the author of its own misfortune" and stating "there
4505-410: The corporation has engaged in "anti-competitive conduct" . "Anti-competitive conduct" refers to the restrictive trade practices in Part IV of the Act (Sections 45, 45B, 46, 47 or 48), or when a carrier with a substantial degree of power in a telecommunications market has taken advantage of the power with the effect, or likely effect, of substantially lessening competition. If the conduct continues after
4590-448: The first party in a cartel to provide information to the ACCC allowing it to prosecute. This policy recognises the difficulty in gaining information/evidence about price-fixing behaviours. Part IVB allows the Australian government to prescribe Industry Codes , and breach of these codes is a breach of the Act. The ACCC administers ongoing compliance with these codes. There are currently three codes made under this part: A unique feature of
4675-565: The first television station in the country to use the VHF 7 frequency. ATN-7 Sydney, licensed to Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of Fairfax , was launched on 2 December 1956, signing on as Sydney's third television station. The two stations did not immediately share resources, and instead formed content-sharing partnerships with their VHF 9 counterparts by 1957: ATN-7 partnered with Melbourne's GTV-9 , while HSV-7 paired up with Sydney's TCN-9 . TVW-7 Perth, licensed to TVW Limited,
4760-604: The first time in 1998. Between 1995 and April 2001, Alan Jackson of Nylex was the non-executive director of Seven, after being asked by Stokes to lead the company. A successful $ 1.3 billion bid for United Artists was made in conjunction with Kirk Kerkorian in 1996; the network sold its stake two years later for $ US389 million. Seven took control of Australia Television , the Australian Broadcasting Corporation 's Asian satellite channel, in 1997. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation still maintained
4845-477: The first time in more than 40 years, the whole Seven Sydney operation, including all staff, were under one roof. The new space offers space five times larger than the previous Martin Place location, with permanent sets for all programs. In July–August 2023 when the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was hosted by Australia and New Zealand, there was some controversy worldwide about broadcasting rights to it , when broadcasters' offers were very low, and FIFA's handling of
4930-536: The issue of the Competition Notice, the ACCC can seek an injunction and financial penalty through the Federal Court. Competition Notices also allow third parties to take legal action. Part XIC is a telecommunications-specific access regime. The object of Part XIC is to promote the long-term interests of end-users of telecommunications carriage services and services that facilitate the supply of such carriage services: s152AB . The extent to which something promotes
5015-434: The legal and media sectors as one of the most extreme examples of "mega-litigation". In costs documents lodged on 27 August 2007, the NRL, one of the defendants in the case, argued for an indemnity costs order, the actual costs incurred by the parties, to be awarded against Seven, with the figure estimated at approximately $ 200 million. On 14 September 2007, Seven agreed to a A$ 23.5-million costs settlement with News Limited,
5100-401: The legislative phrases may have been interpreted slightly differently. Under the Trade Practices Act implied conditions and warranties are mandatory: they cannot be excluded by a contractual intent to the contrary. The implied conditions are as to title (s 53 of the ACL, formerly s 69 of the TPA), quiet possession, freedom from encumbrances, fitness for purpose (s 55 of the ACL, formerly s 71 of
5185-468: The long-term interests of end-users is assessed by having regard to three, and only three, objectives, namely: Under Part XIC, the ACCC can 'declare' particular telecommunications carriage services if it is in the long-term interests of end-users: s152AL . Suppliers of declared services must comply with standard access obligations: s152AR . Persons can obtain access to declared services on terms and conditions set either: The Australian Consumer Law (ACL)
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#17328592617945270-570: The network adopted the Network 7 name, that a national network logo was adopted, albeit still with independently owned and operated stations with local advertising campaigns. Colour television was introduced across the network in 1975, when a new colour logo was adopted. Rupert Murdoch made an unsuccessful bid for the Herald and Weekly Times , owners of HSV-7 , in 1979, later going on to gain control of rival ATV-10 . Fairfax, however, successfully bought
5355-527: The network returned to the "Australian Television Network" branding. The next year, another new logo was introduced along with evening soap Home and Away and a relaunched Seven National News , now known as Seven News . The network became truly national in 1988 when Skase bought TVW-7 for $ 130 million. In 1991, the network changed its name once again to the Seven Network , though it had been unofficially using that name for some time before then. Despite
5440-466: The network the year before. Neighbours began on Seven in 1985, but low ratings in Sydney led to the cancellation of the new series at the end of the year, which later moved to Network Ten and went on to achieve international success. Perth based businessman Robert Holmes à Court , through his business the Bell Group, bought TVW -7 from its original owners, West Australian Newspapers in 1982. It
5525-411: The network with an updated logo, and a new advertising campaign timed expressly for the network's coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The opening ceremony was one of the highest-ever rating television programmes in the country, with 6.5 million viewers, contributing to the network winning the ratings year for the first time in twenty-two years. Digital television was introduced to most of
5610-672: The network won all 40 out of 40 weeks of the ratings season for total viewers, being the first to achieve this since the introduction of the OzTAM ratings system in 2001. As of 2023, the Seven Network is the highest-rated television network nationally, in Australia, ahead of the Nine Network , ABC TV , Network 10 and SBS . Seven's administration headquarters are in Eveleigh , Sydney, completed in 2003. National news and current affairs programming are based between flagship station ATN-7 in Sydney and HSV-7 in Melbourne. In 2009, Seven moved its Sydney-based production operations from Epping to
5695-414: The network's coverage area on 1 January 2001. This was soon followed by the gradual introduction of wide screen and high definition programming. In January 2006, the Seven Network, Pacific Magazines and online portal Yahoo! Australia and New Zealand combined in a joint venture to form Yahoo!7 , representing all three companies' online assets. 7HD was officially announced on 15 September 2007, with
5780-456: The network's parent company, Seven Network Limited . Sunshine Television 's regional stations effectively became a part of the Seven Network, identical in appearance and programming to the rest of the business' stations. Australian Gladiators Series 1 and Series 2 in 1995-1996 filmed in Brisbane, and Series 3 filmed in Sydney proved popular. Seven Queensland won the annual audience ratings for
5865-470: The network's successes, a failed $ 1.5 billion bid for MGM Studios in the same year sent Qintex into receivership. Christopher Skase fled Australia in 1990 to escape extradition. The business' assets were bundled together by receivers and made into a new company, the Seven Network Limited , in 1991. Real Life , a national current-affairs programme hosted by Stan Grant , similar in format to
5950-475: The original A$ 1.1 billion). Soon after the case began, the suits against Network Ten and the AFL were settled in the Federal Court . During the trial it was revealed that C7 had purchased the rights to National Soccer League content with the intention of "suffocating" coverage of the sport to benefit the AFL (i.e., Australian rules football ). This was evidenced by an email from C7 to the AFL complaining about
6035-603: The press regulator of serious violations of the broadcasting code. The ACMA ruled that the Channel was guilty of breaking its racism clause – having "provoked or perpetuated intense dislike, serious contempt or severe ridicule against the Suruwaha people on the grounds of ... national or ethnic origin ... race [or] religion". It also ruled that the Channel was guilty of broadcasting inaccurate material. Seven sought judicial review, but in June 2014
6120-525: The program. Trade Practices Act The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 ( CCA ) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia . Prior to 1 January 2011, it was known as the Trade Practices Act 1974 ( TPA ). The Act is the legislative vehicle for competition law in Australia, and seeks to promote competition, fair trading as well as providing protection for consumers. It is administered by
6205-456: The rights was also criticised. The Seven Network won the rights to broadcast 15 of the matches. These included four round of 16 games, two quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and the final, along with all of the Matildas games. The pay channel Optus Sport has rights for every game in the tournament. This raised public criticism, with many arguing that the entire tournament should be free-to-air, as
6290-416: The shares and subsidiaries of Prime Media Group . This was Seven West Media's second attempt at purchasing Prime, after its previous attempt in 2019 was thwarted by Australian Community Media boss Antony Catalano and rival WIN Corporation owner Bruce Gordon , who cited Seven's debt problems at the time and its poor ratings performance as their reason for their refusal. This development would mark an end to
6375-597: The sharing of programmes and simultaneous broadcasts of live shows. In 1960, Frank Packer , the owner of Sydney's TCN-9 , bought a controlling share of Melbourne's GTV-9 , in the process creating the country's first television network (unofficially called "the National Nine Network ") and dissolving the ATN-7 / GTV-9 and the HSV-7 / TCN-9 partnerships. Left without their original partners, ATN-7 and HSV-7 joined to form
6460-412: The time). Cross-media ownership laws introduced in 1987 forced Fairfax to choose between its print and television operations – it chose the former, and later sold off its stations to Qintex Ltd., owned by businessman Christopher Skase . Qintex had previously bought, and subsequently sold off, stations in Brisbane and regional Queensland before taking control of the network. It was also in 1987 that
6545-716: The time, Fox Sports focused on less popular sports. In 1997 Sports Vision ran into financial difficulty; Sports Australia struggled to get viewers due to the limited reach of the Optus cable, and aggressive marketing of the Fox Sports service by Foxtel. The company eventually collapsed, but the Seven Network bought the channels and relaunched them on 1 March 1999 under the C7 Sport brand. Sports Australia became "C7 Gold", or "C7 Twelve", after its channel assignment on Optus. Sports Australia 2 became "C7 Blue", or "C7 Thirteen". Sports AFL's programming
6630-476: The world". Survival International , the global movement for tribal people's rights, sent a complaint to Seven outlining the many errors and distortions in the report. After the channel refused to correct the inaccuracies in the program, Survival filed a complaint at the Australian Communications and Media Authority , who opened a formal investigation. In September 2012, the network was found guilty by
6715-433: Was also announced that Seven would look to expand its investment in local news following the merger. Majority of Prime's shareholders voted in favour of the deal on 23 December, with the sale completed on 31 December. Commencing June 2022, Seven moved to a national brand in time for the 2022 Commonwealth Games across all of its regions. Introduced to regional audiences on 6 June 2022, viewers in those markets began to see
6800-486: Was carried on the other two channels. Shortly afterwards, Seven signed a deal with Austar that saw C7 become available to most of regional Australia from April. Austar had many more subscribers than Optus at the time. Before the deal, C7 had only been available in the small Optus cabled areas in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. C7 was never available to the majority of people in the capital cities (except Hobart and Darwin). C7 continued to lose programming to Fox Sports; after
6885-473: Was in 1984 that the network proceeded to drop the "Network 7" branding. The Herald and Weekly Times , owner of HSV -7 and ADS -7, was sold to Rupert Murdoch in December 1986 for an estimated A$ 1.8 billion. Murdoch's company, News Limited , sold off HSV-7 to Fairfax soon afterwards, for $ 320 million. Fairfax went on to axe a number of locally produced shows in favour of networked content from its Sydney counterpart, ATN -7 (also owned by Fairfax at
6970-515: Was later forced to give refunds to some customers after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ruled that they had misrepresented the C7 Olympic service by advertising that the service would carry all Australian men's and women's basketball games. Late in 2000, Seven lost the rights to the AFL to a News Corp Australia headed consortium also containing PBL , Nine Network , Network Ten and Telstra . The new rights deal, which started with
7055-487: Was the 2022 (men's) World Cup in Qatar , on SBS Television . In September 2023, a female Queensland contestant in an upcoming Seven Network reality show was charged with multiple counts of indecent treatment of children aged under 16, multiple counts of rape, sexual assault, torture and assaults over a 15-year period. Her partner was also charged with a number of assaults. Seven refused to confirm whether it will cancel or alter
7140-505: Was the first Australian text to critically analyse the most extensive changes to consumer protection law embodied within the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. The CCA establishes four organisations with a role in administering the Act: Part IIIA of the CCA deals with third party access to services of facilities of national significance. For example, it covers access to electricity grids or natural gas pipelines. The aim of this part of
7225-415: Was unconscionable if a party to a transaction is under a ' special disability ', the other party is or ought be aware of that disability, and that other party acts in a way that makes it unfair or unconscionable to accept the offer of the weaker party. Section 20 codifies the common law by referring to the "unwritten law" (i.e. the common law ). However, the inclusion of section 20 allows for remedies under
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